North Wales MS welcomes decision to scrap ‘environmentally destructive’ Red Route plan
A North Wales MS has welcomed the decision by the Welsh Government to scrap its plan to build the “environmentally destructive” Flintshire Red Route road.
Llyr Gruffydd, has hailed the “victory” for local campaigners who fought against the building of the A55-A548 dual-carriageway, which would have destroyed Leadbrook Woods and meadows in Flintshire.
The Plaid Cymru Senedd member also criticised the Welsh Government for failing to provide “adequate provision for public transport” and other sustainable transport interventions that would help take pressure off existing roads.
The North Wales Wildlife Trust wrote the First Minister Mark Drakeford, and then Transport Minister, Ken Skates, back in 2020, urging them to rethink the proposal.
Iolo Williams
In an open letter, which was signed by naturalist and TV presenter, Iolo Williams, they warned that the project, which was estimated to cost £300 million would “destroy massive areas of our precious farmland, including an award-winning organic farm”.
The campaigners, who were supported at the time by Mr Gruffydd, also said the dual carriageway would “destroy our homes and communities and cause irreparable damage to our wildlife and landscape heritage.”
In response to the decision to scrap the proposal, Llyr Gruffydd MS said: “I welcome the confirmation by the Welsh Government that the scheme will not go ahead.
“It would have been the largest new road proposal in Wales, bringing with it huge environmental damage such as significantly increasing road pollution and destroying Leadbrook Woods and meadows in Flintshire.
“The decision to scrap the project is a significant victory for all of us who have campaigned for a different approach.
“It should be stressed however that this U-turn by the Welsh Government, although welcome, is not sufficient on its own. We now need to see alternative plans to invest significantly in sustainable travel options, including better provision for public transport, to help take pressure off existing roads. So far the Government has failed to do that.
“Just a fraction of the £300m cost of the red route would completely transform public transport in the area and our focus must now be on securing investment into more sustainable alternatives.”
Catastrophe
He added: “The UN General Secretary recently warned that unless we act decisively now we all face a ‘climate catastrophe’. In Wales we have declared a Climate and Nature Emergency, we have legislated to protect the Well-being of Future Generations, and we have put into law a requirement to reach Net Zero by 2050.
“If we are serious about achieving this we must change the way people travel, discouraging road use where possible and encouraging the use of more sustainable travel.
“Defaulting to new road building every time an issue arises will not deliver this. Roads will of course still be built in Wales, but the criteria will now change and the bar for such schemes will now be raised following today’s announcement.”
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Will N.C be covering the slow march in favour of the bypass through Llanbedr on March 25th?
What a waste of Senedd time and our money…
£20 million spent on road schemes that will now never be built!
So who exactly profited from that twenty million quid, apart from Batman ?
Want to get into some investigative journalism N.C, now is your chance…
Llanber bypass £1.7m
A55 roundabouts £9m
3rd Menai Crossing £2m
A483 Wrecsam Bypass Junctions £2.3m
3 smaller ones £370,000
And that is just NW…
Figures from Daily Post…
Where has the £20 million gone?
It has gone to all their Linked-in mates in the ‘professions’, that class never loses…
Hourly rates for road planning consultants…£80-£250 per hour !
Soon burn through £20 million at that rate…
Linked up to a gravy train…
The beauty of the gravy train is that it seems to deliver rewards to the few preferred planners and consultants regularly and on time … not like train service we get out in the sticks !
Ah! Bisto…
The Llanbedr protesters ought to wear snorkels, parts of that planned fiasco are only above existing sea level because they are to be built on an embankment.
What that will do to the houses to the north of the Artro at spring tides or as sea levels rise would be “interesting”. Almost as interesting as the local topographic map. Lots of blue.
You can say the same about Holland etc so no traction there…
Anyway it is beside the point as well as beside the sea…
The answer will have to be, as the present road will become tidal like Mochras, routing the bypass along the old inland coach road and joining by Llanfair hill. It will be messy and costly with a whole new set of land and property owners, but a lot more passing trade for Plas Cae Nest. Either way it will mean a bypass…and when you get to Talsarnau it is up again over Llandecwyn and up to Maentwrog because the bridge over the Dwyryd at Penrhyn is long gone…take the big picture and see where your’s fits… I wonder what Captain… Read more »
Why discourage road use when cars are going electric!
It maybe inconvenient but the fact is that building roads and electric cars and powering electric cars, has a big detrimental impact.
If numerous road schemes have now been scrapped, that should be a saving on the capital budget even if not all would have been commenced straight away. Therefore why cannot some of those savings be transferred to the bus network?
That’s the idea. Use the money saved to spend on public transport. On Tuesday the Welsh Government also published its National transport delivery plan 2022 to 2027, which “sets out the programmes, projects and policies to deliver Llwybr Newydd, the new Wales transport strategy”. This wasn’t reported by most media outlets as doing so would have undermined the click bait outrage that we have seen with most of the ridiculous reporting we have seen on this.
Spend all you like on the bus to Harlech, it won’t get there any quicker…
I appreciate Llyr Gryffydd is one of the regional SMs for North Wales but this just illustrates how stupid the system is for someone to represent such a large area. The local AM Jack Sargent has stated he believes this decision is wrong and written to complain to his own minister for climate change. With all due respect to Llyr i am sure Jack knows more about local opinion and is better placed to represent them than someone most will never have heard of in Delyn
If “local opinion” wants to see all the over 50 road schemes considered by the road review proceed, are you saying they should all go ahead regardless of the financial and environmental consequences?